# Scene 2

*The same. The persons who were at first assembled have left, with the exception of Felix Balde and Dr. Strader, who remain with Hilary True-to-God, the Grand Master; Magnus Bellicosus, the Second Preceptor; Albertus Torquatus, the First Master of the Ceremonies; Frederick Trustworthy, the Second Master of the Ceremonies; Maria; and Johannes Thomasius.*

*Hilary:*  
My son, what thou hast perfected must now  
Within this holy place receive the seal,  
Which sacred and primeval knowledge gives,  
Besides the blessing of the Rosy Cross.  
What thou hast brought the world must be through us  
Unto the Spirit offered; that it may  
Bear fruit in all the worlds, where power of man  
Can be made use of for world-fashioning.

*Bellicosus:*  
That thou mights't give unto the world this work  
Thou had'st to part for many years with much  
That in thine inmost soul thou loved'st best.  
There stood a spirit-teacher at thy side,  
Who went from thee, so that thy human soul  
Might perfectly unfold its powers in thee.  
Thou wast in closer touch with one dear friend  
She also left thee, for thou had'st to learn  
That which men only learn when they are set  
To follow out their soul's powers in themselves.  
With courage hast thou passed through this ordeal.  
That which was taken from thee for thy good  
Is, for thy good, restored to thee anew.  
Thy friend stands here before thee: in the shrine  
She waits for thee to follow out our wish.  
Soon, thou wilt meet thy teacher once again.  
These friends, who on our temple's threshold stand,  
Desire to join with us-in greeting thee,  
As one who brings great knowledge here with him.

*Felix Balde (to Thomasius):*  
Thy mystic art which heretofore aspired  
Through inward contemplation toward the light,  
Will through thine act be able now to work  
Through knowledge gained within the world of sense.

*Strader (to Thomasius):*  
Those souls who after spirit-knowledge strive  
While life still unto matter binds them fast,  
Will now through thee find out a road by which  
They can attain the light in their own way.

*Thomasius:*  
Exalted Master, and ye, honoured sirs!  
Ye think to see before you now a man  
Who, through the Spirit's power and earnest strife,  
Was able to produce the work you praise  
And can acknowledge with your fostering care.  
Ye think that he will certainly succeed  
In reconciling science of to-day  
With ever-ancient sacred mystic art.  
And truly were there anything besides  
The voice of mine own soul, which could instil  
Belief about it into me, I think  
It well might be your words ...

*Trustworthy:*  
The Master's word  
Doth but express that which without a doubt  
Thou feelest in thy soul. There is no need  
To strengthen what thine inner voice declares.

*Thomasius:*  
Ah! were it so, most humbly would I stand  
Before you and implore that I might gain  
The temple's blessing on this work of mine.  
I used to think it so, when first I heard  
The word by which I came to understand  
That ye would take my work beneath your care  
And open gateways to me, which before  
Only initiates could e'er approach.  
But as I trod the path that led to you  
There opened out upon my soul a world  
To which, at such a time ye certainly  
Would not have wished to lead me. Ahriman  
In all his greatness stood before me there.  
And then I saw that he it is in truth  
Who is the expert in seal cosmic laws.  
What human-beings think they know of him  
Is of no value. Only he can know  
Who once hath seen him in the spirit-world.  
It was from him alone that I could learn  
The truth about this work of mine in full.  
He showed how in the progress of the world  
One could not judge effects of such a work;  
Since its true progress cannot be appraised  
By those impressions men may form of it  
Who judge by science and strict logic's law.  
Their verdict on it would alone be true  
If creature from creator were set free  
And freed from him could follow its own path  
Throughout the courses of the spirit-life.  
Yet now the work is so bound up with me  
That it is possible that I might turn  
That which I guide back from the spirit-realms  
To something evil, even though it were  
Good in itself and in its working power.  
I must myself from out the spirit-world  
Send forth afar my influence on all  
Which shows itself on Earth as the result  
Of that which I have brought forth from my mind.  
And if I should let evil issue forth  
From out the spirit-world, through these results,  
Then would the truth do damage greater far  
Than error, for men follow after truth  
According to their insight, error not.  
I shall for certain at some future time  
Turn the results of this my act to ill,  
For Ahriman hath clearly shewn to me  
That these results must all belong to him.  
While I was at my work, and filled with joy  
That it should lead me with such certain tread  
Step after step, up truth's great pyramid,  
I only noticed in my soul that part  
Which lent itself to help me in my search;  
And all the rest I left without a guard.  
All those wild impulses, which formerly  
Were but in bud, could now in quietude  
Bloom forth and ripen into full grown fruits.  
I thought I dwelt in highest spirit-realms,  
But was in truth in deepest night of soul.  
It was the strength of these same impulses  
Which Ahriman in his own realm revealed.  
And so I know the effect that I shall have,  
For in the future all these impulses  
Will go to form my personality.  
Before I took this work in hand, I gave  
Myself to Lucifer, because I wished  
To learn to know and understand his realm.  
Now know I, what I could not see before  
When I was lost entirely in my work,  
That he it was who wove around my thought  
Those beauteous pictures, while within my soul  
He planted wild desires, which silent now  
Will surely one day gain control of me.

*Trustworthy:*  
How can one who hath reached such spirit-heights  
And knows all this for certain, yet believe  
That he hath no escape from evil left?  
Why, thou canst see where danger for thee lies;  
And so canst crush it, and with courage save  
Thyself, and the results of thy great work:  
A spirit-pupil is in duty bound  
To kill what hinders progress in himself.

*Thomasius:*  
I see, thou judgest not by cosmic laws,  
I could e'en now fulfil what thou dost wish  
And I myself could quite well tell myself  
In this same hour all that thou tellest me.  
But that which Karma now doth let me do  
Will not in future be permissible.  
For things must come which will o'ershadow me  
And darken all my spirit, till I turn  
To that which I described to thee just now.  
Then as the world progresses I will seize  
With greed on anything that's in my work  
Which can be used for harm, and all of this  
I will embody in my spirit-life.  
Then I shall have to love great Ahriman  
And joyfully to his possession give  
All that I have produced in earthly life.

*(Pause, during which Thomasius meditates deeply.)*

If all alone I could encounter this,  
And bear it also in my soul alone,  
I could await with fullest peace of mind  
All that was destined for me on my way.  
But it will harm your league as much as me.  
Whatever bad shall follow from my work  
Both for myself and other souls of men,  
Will find its balance through just Karma's law.  
The fact that ye fell victims to this fault  
Makes it far harder for the life of earth,  
Since ye are leaders in this self-same life  
And ought to read the spirit-worlds aright.  
Ye ought not to have failed to notice then  
That it was someone else, and not myself  
Who should have had the doing of this work.  
Ye should have known it must be put aside  
For now; and later would appear again  
Through one who otherwise would guide its course.  
So by your judgment, ye deprive the league  
Of rights it ought to have, if it would still  
Direct the service of the Sacred Place.  
Because this fate for you was shown to me  
I now appear upon your threshold here.  
Knowledge would otherwise have kept me far,  
For truly I can claim no blessing now  
Upon this work, which does both good and harm.

*Hilary:*  
Dear brethren, that which we have just begun,  
Cannot be carried any further now.  
We must betake ourselves unto the Place  
From whence the Spirit can make known His will.

*(Hilary leaves the hall with Bellicosus, Torquatus, and Trustworthy. Doctor Strader and Felix Balde also leave. Only Maria and Thomasius are left.)*

*The hall grows dark. After a short pause the three Spirit forms Philia, Astrid, and Luna appear in a cloud of light, and group themselves so that they completely hide Maria. The following is a spirit-experience of Thomasius.)*

*Philia:*  
The soul is athirst  
To drink of the light  
Which flows from the worlds,  
An all-caring Will  
Hides close from mankind.  
But eagerly seeks  
The spirit to hear  
The language divine  
Which wisdom in love  
Doth hide from the heart.  
For danger surrounds  
The thoughts that would search  
In realms of the soul,  
Where far from the senses  
Secrets hold sway.

*Astrid:*  
Yet souls are enlarged,  
Which follow the light  
And work through the worlds  
Which bold spirit-sight  
Reveals to mankind.  
The spirit doth strive  
Enraptured to live  
In realms of the gods  
Which wisdom benign  
Makes known to the seer.  
There mysteries beckon  
The bold keen desire  
To win those new worlds  
Which far from man's thought  
Deep secrets conceal.

*Luna:*  
It ripens the soul  
To picture the sight  
Whence powers will spring forth  
Which Will, reft of fear  
Doth rouse in mankind.  
The ransoming powers  
From primeval depths  
Bring magical might  
That sense cannot know,  
Close barriered in earth.  
And traces are there  
That each searching soul  
May find out the gate  
Fast closed by the gods  
'Gainst erring desire.

*The Voice of Conscience (invisible):*  
Now totter thy thoughts  
In Being's abyss;  
And what was lent as help to them,  
Thou now hast lost.  
And what shone as the sun for them  
For thee is quenched.  
Alone in cosmic depths thou wanderest,  
Which men intoxicated with desire  
Would seek to win.  
Thou tremblest in the fundaments of growth  
Where men must learn to be bereft of all  
Comfort of soul ...

( *The last words run straight on into the following ones spoken by Maria, who is still hidden by the Spirit forms and cannot be seen. She speaks at first in a ghostly inward voice*.)

*Maria:*  
So blend thy soul  
To powers of love  
Which once could penetrate her with the hope  
Of living warmth,  
Which once could all her will illuminate  
With spirit-light.  
Rescue from loneliness  
The powers of heart that seek  
And feel the nearness of thy friend  
In the darkness of thy strife.

( *The Spirit forms vanish with the cloud of light. Maria becomes visible in her old place. Maria and Thomasius are alone, standing opposite each other. From now onwards the experiences are on the physical plane*.)

*Thomasius (rousing himself from deep meditation):*  
Where was I even now? My powers of soul  
Unveiled the conflict of my inner-self;  
The conscience of the world revealed to me  
What I had lost; and then as blessing came  
The voice of Love within the darksome realm.

*Maria:*  
Johannes, the companion of thy soul  
May once again be present at thy side,  
And follow thee to earth's primeval depths,  
Where souls can win perception e'en as gods,  
By conquest that destroyeth, yet acquires  
By bold persistence life from seeming death.  
E'en in the ever empty fields of ice  
She may go with her friend, where from his soul  
The light will surge which spirits must create  
When darkness wounds and maims the powers of life.  
My friend, thou standest at that threshold now,  
Where man must lose what once he hath attained.  
Full many a glance thou hast toward spirit-realms  
Directed, and from them hast gained the power  
That made thee capable of thy great work.  
It seems to thee, that now that work is lost;  
Desire not then that it were otherwise,  
For such desire must rob thee of all power  
Of further progress into spirit-realms.  
Whether thou walk'st in error or in truth,  
Thou cant keep ever clear the view ahead,  
Which lets thy soul press further on its path  
If thou dost bravely bear necessities  
Imposed upon thee by the spirit-realm.  
This is the law of spirit-pupilship.  
So long as thou still harbourest the wish  
That what hath happened might be otherwise  
Thou wilt forego the power which must be thine,  
If thou dost wish to stay in spirit-land.  
That thou hast lost what thou erewhile hadst won  
Is surest sign to thee that thou may'st walk  
In safety further on the spirit-path.  
Henceforward thou must not rely upon  
That understanding which thou hast till now.  
Well used as the criterion of thy work,  
If thou in truth regardest is as lost.  
Therefore thy being must become quite still  
And wait in silence for the spirit's gifts;  
Then only wilt thou commune with thyself  
When thou once more hast won thyself anew.  
Oft hast thou met the solemn Guardian  
Who on the Threshold keeps so strict a watch  
When spirit-life must part from world of sense;  
But past that presence hast thou never been.  
At sight of him aye didst thou turn away  
And all thy view was pictured from without...  
Ne'er in that inner world which widens out  
Beyond thee as the spirit-verity,  
Have thy steps trod: so must thou now await  
That which shall be revealed, when at my side  
Thou shalt not only to such world *draw nigh*,  
But shall *pass o'er* the Threshold's boundary.